


Lonely Hearts Club

by iRockYourSocks



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Arranged Marriage, Ember Island, F/M, One Shot, Running Away, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-15
Updated: 2013-09-15
Packaged: 2017-12-26 16:15:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/967987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iRockYourSocks/pseuds/iRockYourSocks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Katara was ready, albeit unhappy, for her new life as the wife of a northern warrior. A fateful trip to Ember Island opens her eyes to an alternative path in life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lonely Hearts Club

**Author's Note:**

  * For [stellatiate](https://archiveofourown.org/users/stellatiate/gifts).



> For my precious bb Elle for inspiring me to write this

She drums her fingers against the edges of the boat, her other hand peeling the fabric away from her chest. The Fire Nation is much,  _much_ hotter than the South Pole, and she isn’t too sure if this surprise vacation (more like a coverup for the conference her father has to attend) is the best thing for her right now.

Katara is sixteen and engaged to be married to a warrior from her sister tribe, and this is her last outing with her family before she is whisked to the Northern Water Tribe. Her new necklace feels heavy as it rests in the hollow of her throat, a choking reminder of her future loss of freedom.

She misses her mother’s necklace tied secure around her throat, the last piece of her mother before she died from illness locked away in her jewelry.

Katara lazily threads the ocean water between her fingers, cherishing these final moments with her bending before her husband all but takes away the privilege. 

Her heart thumps a bit faster at the sight of the island, but she can’t find the silver lining knowing that after this trip is over, she’ll be reduced to a housewife.

* * *

 

She wishes Sokka were here instead of looking over the tribe in her father’s absence, because the loneliness she feels might be slightly more bearable if her lunk of a brother was around to make her laugh.

The beach is beautiful, relaxing, and this is the first time that she can actually bend  _in_ the water, but she can’t find the joy in the act.

Katara plops down on the sand, a heavy sigh leaving her chest.

“Are you okay?”

She quickly sits up, eyes squinting as she tilts her head up to look at the stranger. She can’t really see his face with the sun blocking it out, but from the dark hair and paler complexion she can safely assume that he’s probably one of the locals.

She bites her lip and casts her head to the side, unsure of how to answer. It would be kind of strange if she unloaded all of her problems, so she settles for a shrug.

The stranger bows his head, his muscles tensed as if he’s considering leaving her to wallow alone on the beach or joining her.

Katara is shocked when he sits down next to him.

“I guess I’m not the only miserable person on Ember Island,” he quietly murmurs.

* * *

 

Zuko, she learns, is engaged to be wed on the summer solstice. He hasn’t met his bride yet, and Katara doesn’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. At least she knows her betrothed, knows what to expect from him.

That doesn’t meant that she’s thrilled to marry him, though.

Katara doesn’t feel as empty as she normally would have when she’s with Zuko. He understands what she’s going through,  _hell_ , he’s going through it too, and he is the first person that looks at her with something that isn’t akin to pity.

She squeezes his hand with the gentlest pressure and pretends she doesn’t feel the tingling in her arm.

* * *

“Have we met before?” she asks him one day over tea, missing his silent choking.

“No, ah, no we haven’t.”

Her eyes find his. “Are you sure, you look familiar.” His fingers graze the edge of his scar, and he looks away. “That’s not what I meant,” she says, pulling his hand away and replacing it with her lips. “You’re more than your scar, Zuko.”

She rests her head in his neck and wraps her arms around him.

She smiles when she feels his arms come around her.

* * *

 

Katara thinks she likes Zuko, from the way her heart beats faster when he’s around, and even though he isn’t the most cheerful person, her day brightens when she sees him on the beach waiting for her.

She doesn’t feel lonely when he’s around, and she wonders if this is what happiness is supposed to feel like.

She wonders how much it’s going to hurt when she has to say goodbye.

* * *

They’re walking along the beach, an appropriate distance between them as to not be mistaken for lovers, and Katara turns to him, her hand on his arm to stop him.

“I leave in a few days,” she murmurs, her eyes trained on his shoulder to avoid looking him in the eye.

“I know.” Taciturn.

“I don’t want to, to leave. I don’t want to leave you.” She swallows.

His fingers twitch, move upward to cup her cheek. “You shouldn’t think that,” he mutters as he wrenches his hand away and continues to walk, his posture tense. Katara, frustrated, yanks his arm and smashes her lips to his, reaching up to tangle her fingers in his hair.

“Idiot,” she gasps into his mouth when he responds.

* * *

 

They shouldn’t be doing this, both have obligations to other people, irrelevant how displeased they were with their futures.

She presses him into the boulder, a safe spot away from possible prying eyes as she tears at his summer tunic and heatedly slides her lips on the newly exposed skin, shuddering at the sound of his groan. Zuko pulls at her dress, and it doesn’t take much to have her stripped to her white bindings and he down to his trousers.

Katara finds it endearing how his hands shake as he tugs on the knots of her lower bindings, her lips pillowing on his jaw and murmuring soothing words of encouragement. His fingers are clumsy, inexperienced, when they slip between her legs, and she holds onto him like a life support, muffling her cries in his shoulder.

They both know what this is going to lead to, this mashing of lonely, desperate hearts, but neither have the will to stop it.

She gasps when Zuko pulls his fingers out, lifting her smaller frame onto his hips and laying them down on the sand. He starts to tug on his pants, and Katara looks away, her cheeks flushed. It’s silly, really, since they’ve gone this far and she chose now to flush at the sight of a naked man’s anatomy.

He settles on top of her, drawing her knees up and placing a chaste kiss on her lips, pulling back to look into her eyes, to make sure that  _this_ is what she wants, that  _he_ is what she wants. She just grins, hands reaching up to tug the ends of his inky hair.

His nails bite into her hips as he sharply slides between her thighs, his lips firmly latched onto her neck and nipping, sucking, kissing the skin there. She takes in shuddering, gasping breathes every time he pushes back in, but the discomfort isn’t as bad as she’s thought it would be. The sand is uncomfortable, more so than the strange sensation of him filling her, the granules wiggling its way into every naked crevice it could find. It didn’t matter to her, though, because he fills the void that was empty since she learned of her engagement.

She turns her head to the side, reaching up to pull off her necklace.

She isn’t  _his_ , she’s her own person, and damn it all if she’s going to let outside forces control her life.

With Zuko on top of her, muscles straining and face flushed, she watches the tide take her necklace into its depths.

* * *

When he offers her the chance to escape a miserable life as the wife of some warrior, she takes his hand and never looks back.


End file.
